A Hard Day’s Night comparison

Criterion (USA)/Second Sight Films (UK) version (2014)

The film will reportedly be shown in aspect ratio 1.75:1

This is the actual original theatrical aspect ratio from the film’s release in 1964, so that’s a first!

Distribution:

We are only guessing that Criterion will handle the U.S. market and Second Sight Films the U.K. one. Originally, Criterion was reported as the distributor and their parent company Janus Film is cited by the TCM Classic Films Festival to be the company behind the restoration of the film from the original negative. However, the independent British distributors Second Sight Films recently announced that they were  working on a Blu-ray release of the film. With two distributors in the mix, we just have to guess.

Audio:

The music has been remixed in true 5.1-surround by Giles Martin. Another selectable audio option will be Ron Furmanek‘s restored original mono soundtrack. Furmanek prepared this audio for the Miramax DVD, but his work was tampered with, turning it into faux-5.1-surround. This decision was heavily criticised by fans at the time of release. The problem was that the company who owned the rights to the film did not own a stereo version of the soundtrack, just the original mono sound. So this time, some sort of agreement must have been made between that company and the Beatles/Apple Corps Ltd/Universal Music Group. Or, the Beatles/Apple Corps Ltd may have bought back the rights to the film. Or, speculating further, the company who owns the film may be a part of the Universal group of companies. Either way, the fans will benefit.

Rights:

The rights to “A Hard Day’s Night” originally belonged to the film’s producer, Walter Shenson. The current owners are Miramax Films and The Weinstein Company. In 2011 Disney sold Miramax films to Filmyard Holdings, LLC, and the home video sub-license is transferred to Lionsgate. However, Miramax’s film library is still owned by Disney. In December 2013, Miramax and The Weinstein Company entered a 20-year joint-venture agreement to develop and produce films, TV series, and stage shows. The deal will allow the Weinsteins to exploit the 700-film Miramax library. Whether or not this has anything to do with the re-release of “A Hard Day’s Night”, we don’t know.

Bonus material:

No one knows, and probably won’t, until the film is out in the shops. But there’s no way they are going to include everything that was on the Miramax release, so you’ll probably want to keep that. Miramax did a good job on the bonus material.

Criterion has released A Hard Day’s Night previously. That was before the DVD age, they released it on laser disc back in 1987. Bonus material then was the original theatrical trailer, an interview with Richard Lester, and his The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film.

Back in the day, the BBC produced a documentary on the making of A Hard Day’s Night. No, we’re not talking about the 1995 “You Can’t Do That! The Making of ‘A Hard Day’s Night'” documentary hosted by Phil Collins, but a 1964 documentary, “Follow the Beatles”. It was broadcasted by the BBC on August 3rd, 1964 and has rarely been seen since. The documentary was mostly filmed and recorded on the set of “A Hard Day’s Night”. Now that would make a fine accompaniment alongside other bonus material, such as the original trailers.